IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS RELATED TO THE PERFORMANCE OF STONE MASONRY BRIDGES IN GREECE

Abstract eng:
Stone masonry bridges are studied as part of the built cultural heritage, utilizing in-situ measurements in order to identify their dynamic characteristics in terms of eigenfrequencies, eigen-modes and damping properties. Such information is a valuable basis for building realistic numerical simulations of the structural behaviour of such bridges as well as for their structural health monitoring. Such simplified numerical analyses yielded numerical predictions of bridge deformations and stresses that are useful in understanding the structural behaviour and the structural damage potential for such masonry structures. The structural performance of Plaka bridge that collapsed due to flooding in February 2015 was examined when subjected to the gravitational forces combined with either simplified flooding loads or a design earthquake. Moreover, the structural damage that this bridge sustained during an explosion in 1944, was also examined combined with the flooding loads. It is shown that the flexibility of the foundation, amplified by long or short term erosion of the bridge-footings, results in a more detrimental response for the Plaka bridge, in terms of tensile stress fields, than the applied simplified flooding loads. The obtained numerical predictions demonstrate that the structural damaged sustained by this bridge during the 1944 explosion leads to a dominant tensile stress field at the regions of the main and secondary arches on top of the mid-pier. These predicted peak tensile stress values are well beyond the stone masonry strength. Consequently, they could well have contributed towards the 2nd of February 2015 collapse. Finally, simplified numerical simulations of the earthquake vulnerability for the Plaka bridge indicate that had this bridge not collapsed from flooding the design earthquake would have most probably led to its structural damage and its partial collapse.

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